[Westheim]

The week began with an off day and players returning from the DL. Elias Tovias came back from the concussion, with Chris Mendez sent back to St. Petersburg. Jarod Spencer also returned, with Sam Armetta being waived and designated for assignment.

Raccoons (29-22) vs. Falcons (20-31) – June 3-5, 2025

Pitching was the main trouble for the Falcons, who ranked second from the bottom in runs allowed. Their offense was average, but average offense was nothing to counter allowing 5.1 runs per game with. We had won two of three in the first encounter with them this year.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (2-4, 3.60 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (6-2, 3.02 ERA)
Jack Sander (6-2, 2.38 ERA) vs. Kyle Anderson (2-5, 3.80 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (1-4, 3.19 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (4-5, 4.02 ERA)

The Falcons had all right-handed starting pitching, including Travis Garrett (0-0, 6.86 ERA) who was employed as swingman by them, which worked about as well as you would imagine.

Game 1
CHA: SS Ochoa – 2B Good – 1B Fowlkes – LF Kok – RF Banfi – 3B Czachor – CF McClenon – C Sigala – P Gannon
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – 3B Grigsby – P Gutierrez

For the second time in two starts, Rico Gutierrez didn't last long, and again it was for an injury. He made it through the lineup only once, then left with elbow soreness, which was so calming… Kevin Surginer came on yet again to handle a 1-0 game, with the Raccoons having gone up in the first inning on Alberto Ramos' leadoff double and Abel Mora's looping RBI single over the head of Pat Fowlkes. Mora would score the second run for the Coons, coming in the bottom 3rd on a 2-out double by Elias Tovias, who hit a drive to deep right that Luigi Banfi originally caught racing back on the warning track, but lost upon slamming into the fence. Jon Gonzalez, who had extended a hitting streak to 12 games in the second inning, reached on an error, and then Alfaro singled clean through the left side to add an unearned run. By the fourth, we went up 4-0 on Gannon thanks to Spencer cashing in the insanely young Ramos, who had hit a 2-out triple into the gap; by the fifth it was a 6-0 game, Cookie plating Tovias with a groundout to first, and Grigsby contributing an RBI single with two outs. Offensively, the Falcons were not much trouble throughout the game, collecting the odd single without amounting to a major threat on the base paths. The Raccoons had this one apparently in the bag already when they batted through the order in the bottom of the eighth inning against right-hander Justin Guerin, who faced nine, surrendered five runs on two hits, and had augmented the traffic on the bases with four walks and hitting Jon Gonzalez, too. Elijah Taylor struck out Mike Grigsby eventually to end the Coons' shenanigans before Justin Hess saw off the Falcons 1-2-3 in the ninth. 11-0 Furballs!! Ramos 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B; Spencer 2-5, 2 RBI; Mora 2-4, BB, RBI; Tovias 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Carmona 2-5, 3 RBI; Surginer 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-2); Lee 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

While that was a rousing result, we have a starting pitching issue to dissect now with Rico Gutierrez going to miss his next start with the sore elbow, and given that he pitched like three innings between his last two starts and left the rest to Kevin Surginer, maybe we will have to think about shooting him altogether…

By plating eleven in this Tuesday affair, the Raccoons reached 200+ runs on the year. And it took them only 52 games… but we are at least up to ninth in offense now and no longer dead at the bottom. Also, momentum is on our side. If the pitching could hold up now while the offense is getting repopulated and humming…..

Game 2
CHA: SS Ochoa – RF McClenon – 1B Fowlkes – LF Kok – 3B Czachor – 2B Good – C Mattaliano – CF M. Clark – P Moffatt
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – 3B Grigsby – P Sander

Barend Kok gave the Falcons their first run of the series with a first-inning sac fly to Cookie in left, which cashed in on the leadoff singles by Hugo Ochoa and Joseph McClenon, who had gone to the corners right away against Sander, who slowly but surely seemed to return to his expected level of performance, which wasn't all that great. The Coons came back to tie right away, but lost a run when Ramos, who reached on an error by Fowlkes, was caught stealing by Paul Mattaliano before Jarod Spencer tripled and scored on Mora's single. Kok had none of the Coons' act and took Sander deep in the third for a solo home run that gave the Falcons a new 2-1 lead, but neither was Moffatt impregnable. Base hits by Tovias and Gonzalez put the Raccoons on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 4th, but between Alfaro's pop, Cookie's walk, and Grigsby's sac fly to center they only scored the tying run before Sander flew out easily to McClenon in rightfield.

Youth of a Nation was at work to begin the bottom 5th, with Ramos hitting a really hard single past Matt Good, and Spencer rammed a racing grounder through Ryan Czachor for a double into the corner that the blisteringly fast Ramos used to score at once, giving Portland the lead for the first time on Wednesday, 3-2. Unfortunately the middle of the order wasn't quite up to snuff in this game. Moffatt struck out Mora and Tovias to stifle the Coons' ambitions in the fifth, and managed to strand Alberto Ramos – constantly on base – in scoring position in the seventh with another K to Mora. This left the pen to protect a 3-2 lead in the last two innings after Sander had tip-toed through seven without much stuff to work with. The Falcons sure got close to erasing their deficit in the eighth inning, crowding Billy Brotman with pinch-hitters and pinch-runner Chris Erskine in plate of Fowlkes, who had singled, with Vince Devereaux retiring PH Luigi Banfi on a grounder with two outs and two on eventually. The actual nightmare only broke in the ninth, with Jonathan Snyder offering a leadoff walk to Mattaliano, while Matt Clark reached on a hard-luck error on Ramos, who lunged for a quick grounder, actually had it for a potential double play, or at least to kill the lead runner, but then tried to do everything too quickly and dropped the ball. That was two aboard with no outs; while Jairo Sigala struck out, Snyder threw a wild pitch to Hugo Ochoa, who walked anyway on four pitches. McClenon grounded to Spencer, but not for a double play, and the Coons only got the batter at first, with Mattaliano scoring the tying run. Ramos made a strong play on Erskine's grounder to keep the game at least tied. Ramos hit yet another double in the bottom 9th, but was left on third base eventually with Spencer and Matt Otis (pinch-hitting for Snyder) both grounding out. The Coons still won, albeit in ten innings, with Gonzalez and Alfaro hitting almost matching liners into the left-center gap for a walkoff. 4-3 Coons! Ramos 3-5, 2 2B; Spencer 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Tovias 2-5, 2 2B; Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Carmona 2-3, BB; Sander 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
CHA: SS Ochoa – RF McClenon – 1B Fowlkes – LF Kok – 3B Czachor – 2B Good – C Mattaliano – CF M. Clark – P K. Anderson
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – 3B Jurek – P Wasserman

Wasserman whiffed four and allowed no hits the first time through the order as the Coons vied for an early clincher of the season series against Charlotte. Barend Kok broke up the no-hit bid before it really became one, hitting a 2-out single in the fourth inning, coincidentally also giving both teams a matching hit total in the game, because the Raccoons weren't exactly sitting on Kyle Anderson's face either. Gonzalez hit a single in the bottom of the inning to get his hitting streak to 14 games, but was left on first base. Bottom 5th, Dustin Jurek dropped a leadoff single into shallow right, was moved over on a bunt by the pitcher and Ramos' groundout, but Spencer's liner to left was caught by Kok hustling inwards, and Jurek was stranded as well.

Pat Fowlkes broke through Wasserman in the sixth, hitting a double off the wall in leftfield with two outs to plate McClenon for the first run in the game. McClenon had previously singled just inches past the reaching Spencer's glove. In turn, the Raccoons still couldn't find access to Anderson, who didn't seem to have any runs in his pockets, although Jarod Spencer stealthily managed to claw a bag of peanuts from his rear pocket that was never seen again. The Falcons squeezed out an unearned run on Jimmy Lee and another error by Ramos in the ninth inning, but the Coons still didn't have anything against Anderson, who made it into the ninth inning largely unchallenged and would get to defend his own 2-0 lead, although Omar Alfaro put an end to that with a leadoff single to right. Left-hander Danny Munos appeared at once to save this game for the Falcons, getting Cookie to hit into a force at second base before Otis hit in Jurek's spot and singled. The winning run would by Tony Delgado batting in the pitcher's slot with one out. He flew out to right without much tooth on the ball, and Ramos struck out to end the game. 2-0 Falcons. Jurek 2-3; Wasserman 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, L (1-5);

Winless Wasserman at it again! Also, future star Alberto Ramos had his first day to forget entirely in his big league career, going 0-for-5 with 2 K, four left stranded, and that error in the ninth inning.

Raccoons (31-23) vs. Crusaders (24-27) – June 6-8, 2025

These were two very similar teams in how they worked to achieve results, except that the Raccoons were significantly more successful at it. Neither team scored much – both sat in the bottom four in runs scored in the CL – and the Crusaders were second to us Furballs in terms of runs allowed. They were playing significantly under their potential, while the Coons probably had no business being eight games over .500, so things could probably be heading for a readjustment right in this series. So far, these two teams had fought to a standstill in 2025, having split the previous six games right down the middle.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (3-2, 4.94 ERA) vs. Ed Hague (5-2, 2.41 ERA)
Mark Roberts (5-3, 2.29 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (2-3, 3.72 ERA)
TBD vs. Chris Klein (3-5, 2.81 ERA)

First, we were expecting three right-handers here, although they played a double header last weekend and are in a bit of a shuffle that could also see left-hander Ben Jacobson (1-3, 6.10 ERA) slither into this series.

The Coons' TBD would have been Gutierrez' spot and he isn't going to make his start. We have kept Lance Legleiter out of his scheduled start on Thursday in AAA, and he will come up to take over on Sunday in all likelihood. The question is just about the roster spot that he will occupy… The smartest plan so far was to demote Justin Gerace for him, and after the start send Legleiter back to AAA to bring Terry Kopp back from a rehab assignment that didn't exactly see him knock the cover off the ball…

Game 1
NYC: SS R. Soto – CF Douglas – RF Ellis – 3B Schmit – 1B J. Richardson – C Leal – LF Shaffer – 2B Doering – P Hague
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Borg – LF Gerace – 3B Grigsby – C T. Delgado – P Chavez

Three singles plated a Robby Soto run for the Crusaders in the first, although there was also a throwing error by Delgado on a stolen base attempt in there for general discomfort. The Raccoons' replacement brigade flipped the score in the second inning, though, with Greg Borg and Justin Gerace hitting leadoff doubles to tie it, and then Grigsby singled in Gerace to go ahead, 2-1. Ed Hague's first error of the season turned Chavez' 1-out bunt into two bases, presenting the top of the order with runners in scoring position and one down, but both Ramos and Spencer grounded towards unhelpful places to keep the runners aboard. Weak move, considering that Chavez was constantly leaking base hits in this outing, but maybe the Crusaders would set up more chances for the Raccoons in due order.

Such a chance came in the bottom 4th. In what was still a 2-1 game, Tony Delgado had a 1-out single in the inning before Chavez bunted. The Crusaders would fudge this one, too, with Jamie Richardson having to come in quite far and then still tried to get the lead runner at second base, but not even Delgado was that old and this slow. All hands were safe, and the top of the order approached again, including Ramos in his first career 0-for-7 rut. He ended that one with a single to left, although that was not enough to score Delgado and the bases were loaded. Jarod Spencer sent a drive up the leftfield line, Nick Shaffer wasn't close to catching it, and the ball went all the way into the corner, with the bags emptying nicely on Spencer's 3-run double! Hague wouldn't make it out of the inning, surrendering RBI base hits to both Mora and Gonzalez on his way out, pitcher of record on the sad side of a 7-1 score. Meanwhile Chavez, who had looked like another bullpen day could break out any second during the early innings, found his rhythm in the middle innings, and soon began to turn away the Crusaders in short order. Before you knew it, he was in the ninth inning, where Nate Ellis' 1-out single ended an unbelievable string of *seventeen* Crusaders batters being retired consecutively. Andy Schmit struck out, and Borg handled Jamie Richardson's soft fly to shallow right to our full satisfaction as Chavez turned a stiff breeze in the early innings into a coasting complete game! 7-1 Furballs! Spencer 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Borg 3-4, 2B; Chavez 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (4-2);

The middle game would bring us Ben Jacobson as cautioned earlier, so we would give Ramos and Mora the day off; the Raccoons would not get an off day next week, so we might as well start early with giving out days of rest now.

Game 2
NYC: SS R. Soto – 1B Douglas – 3B Schmit – RF Ellis – C F. Delgado – CF Shaffer – LF I. Vega – 2B Doering – P Jacobson
POR: LF Spencer – CF Borg – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 2B Otis – 3B Grigsby – SS Jurek – P Roberts

The first three Crusaders batters ripped three sharp base hits off Roberts in this game, a Soto single, a Lance Douglas homer, and then another single by Andy Schmit, prompting an early pep talk of the pitching coach with Mark Roberts. No, Mark, they are supposed to score AS FEW POINTS as possible! Roberts got it now, and struck out the next three batters to end the inning. Oh, the blessings of communicating! Maybe the Raccoons could have a swift answer to that. The bottom 1st saw Spencer lead off with an infield single that half the Crusaders' infield personnel looked pretty bad on, and then Borg doubled to left, putting the tying runs in scoring position right away. Unfortunately, Tovias struck out in a full count, and only Gonzalez got a run in on a groundout to Soto before Alfaro struck out. That run the Crusaders pulled right back with the aid of a gross throwing error by Dustin Jurek, but it was also Roberts hitting a guy, and this could turn out to be a pretty long game for us… On cue, Jurek got thrown out at home plate on a 2-out single by Roberts in the bottom 2nd, although to be fair he also only had gotten into scoring position due to an error by Nick Shaffer. Lots o' good baseball being played in Portland on Saturday!

And it only got "better". New York went up 4-1 on Nate Ellis' solo shot in the third, then got another run in the fourth that saw Jarod Spencer miss outlandishly on a throw to home plate that probably would also have been late even if it had been on point. The Coons came up with runners in scoring position and two outs in the bottom 4th, but had Roberts at the plate. I still found it too early to pinch-hit for the nominal ace here, even though he had gotten stuffed with five runs already. He sent a grounder at Blake Doering and in a move fitting for this game Doering had it glance off his glove, scrambled after it, picked it up again, still had time, and then lost it in transfer for another pretty stark error. Grigsby scored, making it now a 5-2 game, with Spencer grounding out to leave two stranded. Roberts' non-heroics with the stick didn't translate into more productive innings on the mound either, Felipe Delgado homering off him in the fifth, a solo shot and also the last run and inning for Roberts in this dismal affair.

Maybe it wasn't all dismal yet; maybe there was another chance. There was brief cameo by Ozzie Pereira in the bottom 8th, who did nothing but give up leadoff singles to Tovias and Gonzalez, which at least had the tying run appear in the on-deck circle as Travis Giordano came out of the bullpen to quell this threat in an instant. Omar Alfaro ran a 3-1 count before grounding it sharply at Blake Doering for a soul-stabbing double play. Matt Otis struck out, and that was it mostly for the Critters. Or was it? Cookie hit for Grigsby to begin the bottom 9th against Steve Casey and grounded out, but then the scraps Jurek and Gerace stung New York with back-to-back homers! Still down by two though. Spencer grounded out, but Greg Borg doubled, bringing up the tying run after all. Tovias, 3-for-4 in the game, struck out, and that was that… 6-4 Crusaders. Spencer 2-5; Borg 3-5, 2 2B; Tovias 3-5; Jurek 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Gerace (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

This one sucked balls all over the place. We out-hit them and not just barely so. We had 15 base knocks to their eight, and somehow still couldn't get in front of them… it wasn't the errors, both teams made two of those. They had three homers against our two, and maybe the three double plays on our ledger also didn't help us much…

Justin Gerace's reward for homering in the ninth was a demotion to St. Pete along with his .209 average, 3 HR, and 13 RBI, to get a starter for the Sunday game onto the roster, as Lance Legleiter would try to take the battle to his old team.

Legleiter had gone 5-1 with a 3.34 ERA in St. Pete, whiffing 8.5 per nine innings.

Game 3
NYC: SS R. Soto – CF Douglas – RF Ellis – 3B Schmit – 1B J. Richardson – LF Loya – C Leal – 2B Doering – P A. Mendez
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – 3B Grigsby – P Legleiter

Right-handed Lance Legleiter struck out the left-handed batting side in the first inning, but by contrast, the Crusaders loaded the bags with three mostly right-handed batters in the second inning, only for "Ant" Mendez to strike out to keep them stranded. The scoring started in the third inning, and it was Mendez who was on the bleeding end of it. Jarod Spencer hit a 1-out triple into the rightfield corner, but initially didn't score on Tovias' fly to shallow left. Mora singled him in, up the middle, for the first run in the game, and then Gonzalez legged out an infield single and Alfaro drew a walk to load them up for Cookie, who's low liner went past Schmit's glove and bounced fair by just an inch near the leftfield line. Ricky Loya went to coral it quickly, with Gonzalez waved around third base to get two runs on the single, and he slid in safe while colliding viciously with Armando Leal. With the runners advancing, Grigsby got an intentional walk, leading to Legleiter to ground out to end the inning.

When the fourth inning rolled around, Jon Gonzalez was gone, with Mora moving in to first base and the outfield having grown a Greg Borg between innings. The collision with Leal had shaken Gonzalez enough that there was concern for his back and he had to come out. Other than that, the middle innings were mostly uneventful, with Legleiter doing a splendid job in giving the Raccoons six shutout innings before handing it over to the bullpen. Ricky Ohl took over for the seventh, retired nobody, and left Billy Brotman with the bases loaded. Leal reached on an uncaught third strike, while Doering and Delgado hit singles. Soto grounded to short against Brotman, but Ramos and Spencer could only turn one, Soto eventually stole second base, and Nate Ellis would level the score with a 2-out, 2-run single that dropped well in front of Alfaro. Oh, the deflation…

Jon Ozier's consecutive walks to Mora and Borg created a 1-out opportunity in the bottom 7th, bringing up the decidedly unclutch Alfaro, who struck out in a full count. Cookie ran another full count, walked, and with the bags full the Raccoons had .216-and-falling batter Mike Grigsby in the box, and only Delgado and Jurek left on the diminished bench. Grigsby batted, struck out, and it was all horrendous. Mora struck out with Spencer and Tovias on base in an unsuccessful eighth, and the winning run was left in scoring position in the ninth after an Alfaro single and a wild pitch when Cookie popped out and Grigsby flew out to Shaffer in centerfield. The Crusaders would score off Snyder in the 10th with a laughable 4-pitch leadoff walk to J.D. Laughery, who had earlier pinch-run for Nate Ellis, and then Andy Schmit's double, setting the table for the team. Richardson brought in the go-ahead run with a groundout before the Crusaders – with an empty bench – called the squeeze play for Travis Giordano in the #6 hole. The Coons were accidentally alert and Schmit was struck down at home plate by Tony Delgado, but the Coons were still behind now. Steve Casey retired Delgado, Ramos, and Spencer in order in the bottom 10th to keep it that way. 4-3 Crusaders. Spencer 3-6, 3B; Mora 2-4, BB, RBI; Alfaro 2-4, BB; Legleiter 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K;

Alberto Ramos stole his first career base in this game, swiping one from underneath Mendez and Leal in the sixth.

In other news

June 2 – A wild pitch by TIJ MR Markus Bates (2-3, 1.69 ERA, 5 SV) walks off the Loggers for a 4-3 regulation victory as it allows MIL INF/LF/CF Sam Green (.182, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to score with two outs in the bottom 9th.
June 3 – WAS C David Lessman (.300, 4 HR, 18 RBI) could be out until the All Star break with a strained oblique.
June 5 – CIN CF Nando Maiello (.281, 0 HR, 12 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring.
June 5 – SAL INF Dan Cobb (.287, 2 HR, 21 RBI) could miss time until September with a fractured ankle.
June 7 – The Wolves trade RF/LF Luke Gross (.306, 4 HR, 23 RBI) to the Stars for 2B/3B/LF Fernando Medina (.257, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and a prospect.
June 7 – The Capitals erase a 2-run deficit to the Miners with a 7-run seventh inning, eventually claiming a 12-8 victory.
June 8 – The Thunder overcome the Falcons in a 1-0 game. The lone run scores in the fourth inning on a walk drawn by 1B/LF/RF Luke Davis (.276, 1 HR, 10 RBI), a balk, and two groundouts.
June 8 – The Knights acquire SP Jim Shannon (2-6, 4.48 ERA) from the Blue Sox for two prospects.

Complaints and stuff

And again we are sitting so tantalizingly close to first place and can't really kick it into gear… maybe it would help if all the injuries would just stop for a second…

Or, well, if the bullpen could refrain from fudging 3-0 leads in an instant.

Neither Juan Barzaga nor Sam Armetta were claimed off waivers during the week.

Fun Fact: Twice in their history the Raccoons had players spin a no-hitter in the early weeks of June; Manuel "Bam Bam" Movonda no-hit the Condors on June 2, 1998, and Jose Dominguez did the honors against the Crusaders on June 5, 2007.

Of course – and besides the fact that Movonda is still the only pitcher to surrender a run while pitching a no-hitter – even that is not a good time to talk about our accomplishments given that the first days of June also saw Charlotte's Hubert Green cycle against Portland in 1999, and the Crusaders' Gabriel Ortíz hit three homers against them 15 years ago today, two off "Winless" Watanabe and another one off Ted Reese, whom I wouldn't have remembered at all right now.

And tomorrow? Tomorrow will be the 13th anniversary of Stan Murphy's second 3-dinger game. Of course against the Coons. And even against Brownie, all three of them!

Stan Murphy. Grrr.